Coder section

Yeh I think everyones noticed that, most likely because no one wants to ask questions in case they look stupid. I think a coding challenge would be a great idea to get the coder section up and running.
I'd be in for it..
What type of small challenge were you thinking of?

haha please no more elements [:p]

Yeh, I would have thought there would be a greater presence of coders in the forums, judging from the fairly high number of programmers who voted on the main page.. maybe programmers are a shy breed. [;)]
I agree, the website as it is is perhaps not the best way to promote coders. I'm not exactly sure what a better approach would be..
Programmer challenge? Code a game under 64k. [;)] It would be great if there was something the programmers challenge could do that would supplement the modelling challenge. Maybe a funky modeller/animation viewer or something? any suggestions?

Yeah it's hard to come up with programming challenges, I think it may be a good idea for some of the coders on the site to get together and write up a bit of a front end for the purposes of graphics output (ie directx or OGL maybe?) so that future coding challenges can have a bit of substance to them, but again, I question the level of participation that would occur.

Perhaps in the future with a small, compact front end there could be levels of collaboration between the programming and artistic challenges to make some pretty little demos and things like that - but again, this is a fairly large investment of time and participation given the busyness of coders atm? I'm not sure...anyone got any suggestions?

If nothing else perhaps I can "put my money where my mouth is" (so to speak) and write the said front end...?

Oh and in regards to not asking questions in case of looking stupid or not like an "uber-programmer", look at some of the stupid-arse ignoramus-esque stuff I put up there :)

Does anyone know if there's any local demo comps?

A old school demo is easily one of the best ways to show off both programming & artistic skills, so surely some Sumeans could get something together :)

Everyone is sick of environmental effects as programming comps... so my suggestion for a comp is to make the best gore effect... Heads exploding into chicken necks and fingers, guts falling out of a lucid body... SACKLOADS OF ORGANS!!!!! Now thats a challenge.

Yes I have a problem.

Having scanned the LAN party scene in Australia for an hour on the net I can't seem to find any demo competitions so I think that may just be out of the question, although it would be nice to be able to display the work done, in the challenge, in some form or another.

As far as exploding chickens goes, it may be a programming challenge no doubt, but at the same time, I personally find that kind of material not quite as appealing as it is to you :) I'm not really the gore/violence type, however I'm obviously not the one making decisions so I'll start a thread in the coders section for suggestions about any possiblity of an upcoming coder competition.

I guess we'd have to host our own demo party lan in Australia sometime, maybe around the AGDC, or maybe scab a booth or something with just a powerful computer and a projector showing off some cool demos?

Yeah I'm a bit stuck for ideas how to "promote" said sumea code challenge.
Hosting a demo/lan party takes a fair bit of effort seeing as this is a nation wide community...unless a Sumea party is happening any time soon (which I doubt it will), or a Sumea stall at the AGDC (also not high on the likelihood list).
I guess this takes it back to the whole "how the crap do we promote programmers" debate.

"how the crap do we promote programmers"

Well perhaps by starting off with that we're not stereotypical nerds that stay awake all night working on the computer in a dark room...

erm, well, not *all* the time.

;-)

there is an Australian demoscene, and there is an Australian demoscene party called "Coven". http://www.covenparty.org

The party wasn't held last year, but I think they are planning one for this year..

demoscene rules!

Yeah I went there and noticed it hadn't been updated in a while so I kinda tossed it aside assuming it was pretty much dead, but maybe I'll have another look.

At true - demoscene does rule :) Not as much as it used to, but it still rules :)

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

unless a Sumea party is happening any time soon (which I doubt it will), or a Sumea stall at the AGDC (also not high on the likelihood list).

There's no way I could afford to pay for a stall at the AGDC.. and who'd wanna go to a Sumea party anyway? Unless, of course, some of the female members in the forum are coaxed into going [;)]

quote:Unless, of course, some of the female members in the forum are coaxed into going

lol

I emailed the guy who claims to be an organiser of the CovenParty (and Adelaidean demo party which has gone a bit on the way side in the last year or two) and he tentatively said that there may be something sometime early in 2004, but he's only thinking about it, and hasn't planned anything as far as he let on.

That Coven Party has been around for almost a decade, hasn't it? I remember hearing about it when I was still using my Amiga ('92-'93)..

The website goes back to '95 but who knows how far back the party goes?

If you are interested in the Australian demoscene, irc to irc.uq.edu.au #demoscene